Culinary SOS: recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

CaptionThe Village Idiot's beans and bitter greens

Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

The Village Idiot in Los Angeles serves a beans and bitter greens dish that reader Chris Shellan describes as "incredible -- rich and meaty, yet they swore they didn't use any meat products." Read the recipe »

The Village Idiot in Los Angeles serves a beans and bitter greens dish that reader Chris Shellan describes as "incredible -- rich and meaty, yet they swore they didn't use any meat products." Read the recipe » (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Filomena's Italian Kitchen in Costa Mesa serves a chocolate mousse called vasetto di crema that reader Sheila Alperstein says is so exceptionally light and airy that "three of us shared one, and it was gone in a nanosecond." Read the recipe »

Filomena's Italian Kitchen in Costa Mesa serves a chocolate mousse called vasetto di crema that reader Sheila Alperstein says is so exceptionally light and airy that "three of us shared one, and it was gone in a nanosecond." Read the recipe » (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)